Chapter 7
Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Theory & Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Viewpoint
I.Videotape: Overview of 2 Theories
A.Notes: Identify key terms,
characteristics, and questions for each
stage and theorist.
B.Feedback sheet:
NameCogn Theories
Date
Question or Comment
C.What do you know about Piaget?
What do you know about Vygotsky?
II.Piaget’s Theory of Cog Dev
A.age-related changes in
Attending
Perceiving
Learning
Thinking
Remembering
B.Intelligence= adaptation
C.How is intelligence built?
Cognitive Equilibrium = cog processes are
aligned with environment
Cognitive Disequilibrium = cog confusion
D.Back to Cognitive Equilibrium: 2 Cognitive
Processes
1.Adaptation
Assimilation : Using what you know
Accommodation: Thinking of new
solutions
2.Organization = movement toward more
cognitive complexity
Differentiation: Distinguishing
between old schemes
Integration: Putting schemes into
A hierarchy
E.Basic Assumptions:
1.Constructivism: Building knowledge by
building and refining schemes
2.Scheme = cognitive structures
Developmental sequence:
-behavioral (sensorimotor)
-symbolic schemes
-operational schemes
3.Stages = invariant
F.Challenges: Underestimated what children
Can do
1.Neo-nativism: Some cognitive
schemes like object permanence are
innate with some sensorimotor
enhancement with experience.
2.Children’s ‘theory’ theories:
Children test their schemas and
Construct their own knowledge.
III.Sensorimotor Stage (0-24 months)
A.CharacteristicsAchievements
-motoric schemas-object permanence
-sensory schemas-understands cause
-learning thru senses& effect
-experimental-has representation’l
thought
-exploratory(e.g., language)
-models/imitates beh(e.g., pretend
play, lang
deferred
imitation
IV.Preoperational Stage (2-7 Years)
Preconceptual (2-4)Intuitive (4-7)
A.CharacteristicsAchievments
-egocentric*representational/
symbolic thought
(e.g. pretend play,
drawings)
-ainimistic thinking-dual represent-
ational thought
(dual encoding
& orientation)
-perception bound-language to
(e.g., fooled bycommunicate &
appearances)control self
-centered thought-do simple
(focus on one classifications
aspect of appearance)
-irreversible, rigid-some understanding
thought hierarchies
-focus on states vs.-can do easy conservation
transformations tasks
B.Why is make believe play so important?
-develop scripts
-refine and practice assimilations and
accommodations
-help develop appearance-reality distinctions
-abstract or operate on 2 levels of reality
including symbolic
-develop flexibility of thought
C.Developmental sequence of classification:
-idiosyncratic: no visual pattern
-perceptual: grahic collections
based on visual pattern
-complementary:theme-based
(e.g., cars and people)
-conceptual: similarity or by category
D.Collections of things:Class inclusion problem
Superordinate level of ObjectsFurniture
Basic Level of ObjectsChair
Subordinate Level of ObjectsEasy Chair
“A yam is a kind of food, but not meat.
Is a yam a hamburger?”
Food
MeatVegetables
HamburgerChickenYamLettuce
Child is a part of a family (collection).
Oaks can be a part of a forest (collection).
V.Concrete Operations (7-11/Puberty)
CharacteristicsAchievements
-decentration-able to conserve
-reverse thought-able to classify
(e.g., operations) & matrix classify
-purposeful learners-able to seriate
-like concrete problems-able to reverse
operations (e.g.,
math); apply rules
-effortful learners-able to make
transitive
inferences
-see horizontal-able to take the
decalageperspective of
another
-able to make
appearance reality
distinctions
B.Stages of Perspective Taking
Physical: Visual/Perceptual Qualities
e.g., 3 mtn task
Recognizing that people may not see
Things the same way as you
Cognitive:Thoughts
Recognizing that people may not think
About the same event/situation as
the way as you.
Social:Feelings
Recognizing that people may not feel
The same way as you.
C.Difficulty with Appearance-Reality Distinctions
1.Phenonomism: Believing it is real by its appearance
2.Animism:Believing non-living things have living
qualities
3.Intellectual Realism: Reporting reality when
appearance is requested.
VI.Formal Operational Thought (11+ Years)
CharacteristicsAchievements
-egocentrism-combinational logic
-idealism-proportional thinking
-circular metacognitive-think in the ideal/real
thinking
-logical thinkers-use abstractions
-playful, game-like-theory builders
thinking (e.g., propositional
thinkers)
Proportional Reasoning Problem:
What would be the weight of a child sitting at a distance
of 9 feet from the fulcrum of a teeter-totter
that would balance a 150-pound man at a distance of 3 feet?
Formula: Weight X Distance = Weight X Distance
Ch’s weight at 9 feet = 150 pound man X 3 feet
Ch’s weight = 50 lb.
Another Proportional Reasoning Problem
A glass of waterA glass of Wine
4 oz of water4 oz of wine
- 1 oz of water+ 1 oz of water
3 oz of water5 oz of wine/water
Take aware 1 oz of wine/water
+ 1 oz of wine/water4 oz of wine/water
4 oz of water/wine
Is there more wine in the water or water in the wine?
Needs a mathetical calculation to answer to generate
XC points.
XC = 2 points
What’s the difference between a PO thinker and a CO thinker?
VII.Contrasts between PO thinker and CO thinker:
A.Perceived appearance vs. inferred thinker
B.Centered vs. decentered thinker
C.Focus on States vs. Understand Transformations
D.Rigid, irreversible thinking vs. reversible
thinking
What’s the difference between a CO thinker and a FO thinker?
VIII.Contrasts Between a CO thinker and a FO
Thinker
A.Judgments based on visual display vs.
Verbal statements
B.Real vs. possible
C.Global vs. systematic approach to problem
solving
D.Moderate vs. advanced metacognitive
Thinking
E.Empirco-inductive vs. hypothetico-
Deductive Thinking
IX.Contributions
1.Idenitified the developmental nature
of children’sthinking
2.Revised our thinking about children
as learners: naturally curious
3.Pioneer in trying to understand
how children learn and think.
4.Stimulated our interested in studying
and applying developmental theory
in the classroom and beyond.
X.Some Examples of Exam Study Questions:
-Define and provide an example of assimiliation and accommodation; differentiation and integration
-Define key terms
constructivism
A-not-B Error
Dual representation
-Discuss how we know that Piaget might have
underestimated children’s cognitive
capabilities
-What are some characteristics of a PO thinker?
-What are some major cognitive achievements of a
CO thinker?
-What is the developmental sequencing of
perspective taking
imitation
schemes
-What are the differences in a PO thinker from a CO thinker?
-What type of contributions has Piaget made?
-Define key concepts of Vygotsky
-What are the differences between Piaget and
Vygotsky?
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